I miss ye, white one. How much better had ye defeated me! What fables they would make of my hunt! Instead, they lauded me for a week -- drinks on the house -- then sickened of my tale: The One That Didn't Get Away. Only Ishmael speaks of it, a book with legs.

So: Pump my innards into a bucket and splash my aqueous humors into the sea. Let the fluid drift to thy swimming space, the gap from whence ye emerged with spears in gills and hook in mouth. When we heaved ye, my heart was dredged; better that both had plunged. Mythic we would remain. Now we lie demystified, carved, bellies slit open for all to see of what this life is made. A thousand years from now, men will return from the moon with melancholy spirits and lunar nostalgia, quests behind them, gravity a heavier burden than before.

What now will I do with this useless time? Play another round of billiards, over whiskey and lager? Very well.

 
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Paul A. Toth lives in Michigan. His first novel, Fizz, and its successor, Fishnet, are available from select retail stores and all major online outlets. His short fiction has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best American Mystery Stories. For more information, please see www.netpt.tv.
Website: http://www.netpt.tv/
More information on Paul A. Toth’s new book
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